Abstract
The permanent relocation of households out of hazardous areas through buyout programs alters physical and social landscapes. By approaching landscape as a social construct, we recognize that landscapes make normative claims, communicate values, and contribute to individual and community identity. Engaging with visual methodologies and extensive field work following 2017’s Hurricane Harvey, we use the Harris County Flood Control District buyout program, one of the oldest in the U.S., as a case study to critically examine the social construction of the post-buyout landscape. Using photo documentation, participant observation and interviews, we observed that the post-buyout landscape co-occurs alongside a mosaic of post-disaster landscapes including settings of recovery, blight, transaction, and mitigation; reflective of the uneven recovery following Harvey. Findings then identified the post-buyout landscape as a communication tool of six overarching themes: community education, risk communication, political branding, surveillance and gatekeeping, commemoration, and community cohesion. Beyond contributing to our understanding of the impacts of home buyout programs, specifically how the management of these landscapes reinforces normative claims and community identity, this research adds to the growing body of literature on the role of visual culture in shaping social and political discourse in the urban environment.
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Acknowledgements
We express our sincere gratitude to study participants for their time and willingness to share their experiences with us. We also thank Prabin Sharma, Georgia Green, Krystian Murray, and Ellen Christensen for their assistance with field work.
Funding
Funded in part by the National Science Foundation Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment 1844351 (Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation): RAPID: Exploring the Design and Implementation of Buyout Programs in Post-disaster Settings and the Gulf Research Program.
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EZ, AG and SBB contributed to the study conception and design. All authors contributed to data collection and analysis as well as writing the manuscript and subsequent edits. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zavar, E., Greer, A., Binder, S.B. et al. The expression of visual culture on flood buyout landscapes, Harris County, TX. GeoJournal 88, 5287–5304 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-023-10920-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-023-10920-8